In April, I was pretty swamped with finals in grad school, but at long last I finished my first year at Rosemont and managed to do some pretty interesting things!
This month, I had the following articles go up at Girls in Capes:
There are tons of exciting things coming up in May, so make sure to stay tuned in!
March has been a busy month! I kicked it off with a trip to Boston for the AWP National Conference, which I attended last year. While I spent most of the conference working at the Rosemont College booth and talking with other writers, I was lucky enough to get the chance to attend a couple panels and meet people from the West Coast working at literary magazines I would have never heard of otherwise.
If you’re interested in such things, check out TAYO Literary Magazine and Kartika Review. TAYO is a literary magazine “dedicated to the creation, cultivation, and promotion of Filipino and Filipino-American arts and culture.” Kartika Review is a national literary magazine that publishes Asian Pacific Islander American fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
I also had the opportunity to visit 1370 WSPD Toledo to join the segment Eye on Your Weekend. Check out the radio show here in downloadable podcast format to find out what I talked about!
Last night, I had the opportunity to attend an event hosted by my graduate program, A Talk with Pat Carbine. Carbine is a magazine woman and has worked at many magazines over the years, but she’s most well-known for co-founding Ms Magazine.
There were many things I took away from the talk, but when I went through my notes again this morning, one thing stuck out the most in my notes.
Be worth listening to.
It’s actually a bit out of context – Ms. Carbine was speaking about coherence and arranging language carefully when she talked about it – but for some reason, that one fragment of a sentence stuck in my mind and has been sitting there all night. What makes a person or a writer worth listening to? Why do I listen to (or read) the people and writers that I enjoy?
These things, I think, are all important to consider, especially as I think about my future career as a writer, editor, and/or publisher. I want to know I’ve done my job in the most complete and thorough way, especially since what I’m currently doing is about giving an underrepresented group better access to things they’re interested in.
Another thing from last night’s talk that stuck with me was when Ms. Carbine talked about magazines that draw people in just with the headlines of articles, transforming a one-time reader into a regular subscriber:
When that happens, editors have done what I think is the magic of publishing: given you something you didn’t know you wanted to read until you saw it in front of you.
That is also magic: being able to define something I’d thought or even known for a long time without having any real definition. I have always thought of publishing as magical, especially in terms of books, because many of my favorite books are ones I didn’t know I wanted or needed until I read them for the first time.
Towards the end of her talk, Ms. Carbine discussed the launch of Ms Magazine and the way she and the rest of the staff conducted their market research: printing thousands of copies of the magazine and setting them on newsstands across the country. They received 20,000 subscription cards and letters back, which – Carbine said – told them that despite what the staff had been told, Ms Magazine had a national market.
The thing Ms. Carbine mentioned about the letters themselves – that women were writing in to say “I’m not the only one – I’m not alone” – speaks to me as a writer, as an editor, and as a reader. When I read, I want to read something that shows me I’m not alone in the things I think or the things I feel. As an editor, that should be my main objective: to find manuscripts that show readers they’re not alone, either. That, I think, is what makes any writer really worth listening to.
Today is International Women’s Day. According to InternationalWomensDay.com,
International Women’s Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women’s Day is a national holiday.
Last year, I celebrated by posting this video. It’s one of my favorites, and I feel everyone should watch it – not least because International Women’s Day is an important observation.
For more Women’s Day goodness, check out Girls in Capes. We’ve got five great articles scheduled to go up throughout the day. One of them will likely make you think – and one will analyze the video posted above.
February has really started off well. While I wasn’t busy enough in January to publish a significant number of articles this February, I’ve been really busy this month working on articles to go up next month – and, naturally, I’m very excited about the articles to go up in March. For now, check out the posts I’ve had up in February:
I’m also looking forward to attending the AWP national conference again this year – this time, it’s in Boston. I’ll see if I can do a brief review when I get back. The conference takes place between Marc 6 and March 9.
You can also look forward to the official launch day for Girls in Capes, which is March 8 – International Women’s Day. We have a ton of great content coming up on March 8, so make sure to head over and subscribe now through WordPress or via our Twitter account (@GirlsInCapes) for some exciting new articles next month!
Just a short announcement today. As my regular readers may know, I’m currently in a graduate program for publishing. I learned earlier this month that a proposal I submitted to my program was accepted – and I’ll be leading a workshop for authors on writing press kits later this semester!
My workshop will take place April 20 at Rosemont College. I’ll post more information when I know more, so make sure to keep reading – I may post a few tips and tricks here on the blog before or after my workshop!
When newspaper editor McAllister answered the door in the middle of the night, he had no idea what lay ahead of him. The news – that the business manager of the Highland Gazette had died – was only the beginning of a harrowing journey to answer two questions: who murdered Mrs. Smart – and who was she, anyway?
A. D. Scott’s third novel, Beneath the Abbey Wall, takes readers on a journey to the Highlands of Scotland, with moors and glens that make it quite a beautiful journey indeed. Beneath the Abbey Wall is fast-paced and engaging, switching viewpoints between members of the newspaper staff to show many sides of the narrative. The novel primarily follows editor McAllister and reporters Joanne and Rob as they attempt to unravel the mysteries surrounding the life and death of the business manager, Mrs. Joyce MacKenzie Smart.
Most fascinating about Beneath the Abbey Wall is the way Scott manages to entwine a murder mystery with social issues. The concept of social class is difficult for some Americans to understand, as our nation was built on the idea of breaking class roles, but Scott deals with several relationships between people who stretch across social classes, whether those relationships are romantic or simply friendly. Scott also discusses social problems such as domestic violence, suicidal tendency, postpartum depression, and the unlawful displacement of children by welfare agencies by using elements of each issue in her plot.
While Scott is able to weave an engaging tale of murder and intrigue, some issues arise regarding the limits of the novel: its constantly-switching perspective is at times annoying, and some of the characters make such poor decisions that it becomes difficult to like or respect them. Scott’s foreshadowing is interesting and leads readers to suspect something different is afoot, but its ending is unsatisfying and even disquieting to some extent.
Beneath the Abbey Wall is an interesting historic mystery set in 1950s small-town Scotland, an exotic setting unlike any other, and its depiction of Scottish issues – most notably the Traveling people, a specific Scottish clan, and domestic abuse – makes for an interesting read. Its engaging and interesting plot makes Beneath the Abbey Wall worth a look, despite the unsatisfying solution to the mystery of the novel itself.
